


family

by The_Eclectic_Bookworm



Series: lucky you’re the one i love [5]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, the usual pre-relationship ripper/jenny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 10:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20864996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Eclectic_Bookworm/pseuds/The_Eclectic_Bookworm
Summary: “No one asked him to come over,” said Xander, rounding on Jenny as though this was somehow her fault. “I’m allowed to be as mad as I fucking want after he just shows up out of the blue to beat up my dad.”“That isn’t how he told it,” said Willow.





	family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JackalopingIntoTheVoid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackalopingIntoTheVoid/gifts).

> GOD i very nearly forgot to gift this to jack!! even tho all of these are for her!!!!! shameful.

Ripper’s knuckles were bruised, and his surly gaze was directed at his slightly bloodied sneakers, but his face softened and brightened when he saw them all gathered there. “Oh, hey,” he said, as easily and idly as though he was arrested for assault every night. “It’s one in the bloody morning, Janna, d’you just wake up looking pretty?”

“I’m very mad at you,” said Jenny sharply, a statement which might have been more convincing to Buffy and Willow had they not spent the whole drive listening to her babble, high and terrified, about how incredible and brave he was for doing something like this, and about how she hoped to god he hadn’t gotten himself seriously hurt. “Very _fucking _mad at you, Rupert.” She then turned to the officer. “How much is his bail?”

“Well, it’s a bit of an unusual situation,” said the officer uncomfortably. “Violent as his actions were, they were in self-defense. Mr. Harris confirmed it.”

“Tony Harris?” said Jenny. “That bastard?”

In answer, the officer jerked his head towards the other end of the bench. Xander, looking rather the worse for wear, was sitting at the very edge of his seat, twisting his hands and giving them all a twitchy smile. “Hey,” he said. “Crazy night, huh?”

Willow knocked Buffy and Jenny out of the way, racing to throw her arms around Xander. She was sobbing almost incoherently about “didn’t _know”_ and “could have _told _me.”

Jenny sat down next to Ripper and touched his face, very lightly. “You’re a fucking idiot,” she said.

Buffy exhaled, shakily, and sat down on Ripper’s other side. “Are you okay?” she asked in a small voice.

Ripper let his head fall onto Jenny’s shoulder. For all the talk she’d had about being mad at him, Jenny didn’t object, carding her fingers quietly through his hair. “Came over to help Xander with something or other,” he said. “Mostly ‘cause Xander never lets me come over. Found out why tonight.”

“What _happened?”_

“His dad showed up drunk and started yelling at him for not doing the dishes,” said Ripper, “and Xander moved to go do them, and his dad tried to hit him. Could’ve knocked him clean onto the floor.” He swallowed, hard, then said, “I stopped it from happening.”

“Where’s his dad now?” Jenny asked carefully.

“In hospital,” said Ripper grimly. “His mum was shrieking up a bloody storm till Xander told the policemen what’d happened. Lucky for me they believed him.”

Buffy looked again at the blood on Ripper’s shoes and felt a little sick.

* * *

Most of the reason Ripper got off so easy was because of Xander, who had given an awkward, halting summary of his dad’s past transgressions, and because of Xander’s mom, who had tensely and reluctantly agreed that Xander was telling the truth. “About _some _of it,” she’d said, “but that doesn’t excuse—” and then she’d gone off into another tirade about her son and about the kind of people he brought home, but the truth had still come out.

They all piled into Jenny’s Bug, which was a tight squeeze. Xander sat up front with Jenny, and Buffy and Willow sat on either side of Ripper, who slumped exhaustedly against the back of the seat and closed his eyes. “You’re a treasure, Janna,” he mumbled, “right and proper treasure.”

“Don’t get blood on my seats, asshole,” said Jenny, and reached behind her to grasp Ripper’s knee in an awkwardly companionable way.

“Whatever,” said Ripper. “You’ve got a motorbike. S’not like this car is your favorite, anyway—”

“Don’t listen to the nay-sayers, baby, you’re precious,” Jenny cooed to the dashboard as she started up the car.

Xander stared out the window and didn’t say anything for the entire drive, right up until they pulled up in front of Ripper’s house and he said, sharply, “Why aren’t we all going home?”

“I think we should all be in the same place tonight,” said Jenny a little unsteadily, looking over at Xander. “You okay?”

“Leave me _alone,_” said Xander tensely, and unbuckled his seatbelt, hurrying to get out of the car.

Jenny glanced over towards the backseat, looking confused and a little worried. As he shut the door, she asked, “Did I do something wrong?”

“Not you,” said Ripper, yawning and sitting up. “Can’t imagine I’ve won a lot of points with him, fucking up his dad like that.” He sounded remarkably cavalier about it, which felt a little weird after picking him up from the police station.

“His dad’s a bastard,” said Jenny. “I’d give anything to see someone beat up my uncle.”

“Would you, really?” Ripper asked, opening his eyes all the way and looking at Jenny—not judging, just thoughtful. “It’s not quite what you think it’d be, when it happens.”

Jenny opened her mouth, shut it, swallowed, and said, “Yeah. You’re probably right.”

“Shocker,” said Ripper, and elbowed Buffy until she got out of the car. He followed suit, and then Willow; Jenny had already hurried ahead to unlock the door for Xander.

“Oooh, she’s got a _key?” _singsonged Buffy.

“Shut up,” said Ripper, going red. “She _asked _for one.”

Willow walked quietly up to where Xander was standing, his head tilted back as he looked up at the sky. _“Are _you okay?” she asked.

“No,” said Xander. “I’m not. You guys weren’t supposed to—look, the only reason I told that stuff to the cops was because Ripper shouldn’t go to jail just—just because I can’t deal with my own problems. He’s my _dad, _Will, not some _vampire. _That’s not stuff Ripper’s supposed to do.”

“That’s dumb,” said Willow, quietly, clearly. “Ripper cares about you. He wouldn’t have been so angry at your dad if—”

“Ripper only cares about getting into Jenny’s pants and playing his stupid music in his stupid band,” snapped Xander. Then, whirling to where Ripper was walking up the drive, “DID YOU HEAR THAT, RIPPER? I SAID YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT—”

“_Xander,_” said Jenny furiously, yanking the door open as she turned to face him.

“No one _asked _him to come over,” said Xander, rounding on Jenny as though this was somehow her fault. “I’m allowed to be as mad as I fucking want after he just shows up out of the blue to beat up my dad.”

“That isn’t how he told it,” said Willow.

Xander let out a shaky breath, almost a sob, then kicked the nearby wall really hard. “Whatever,” he said, and stormed into Ripper’s apartment, pushing past Jenny hard enough that she was almost knocked off her feet.

“What the _hell _was that?” Buffy demanded, infuriated on Ripper’s behalf.

But Ripper didn’t look angry at Xander. He just looked tired, and kind of sad. “Let him figure it out,” he said. “Doubt I helped all that much, forcing the issue like I did.”

“He’d just have gotten more hurt if you’d let it happen,” said Jenny quietly. “There really was no perfect way to deal with that shit. You did what you could.”

Ripper stepped up next to Jenny and sort of let his shoulder bump against hers, which, for Ripper, was kind of the equivalent of hugging and crying and all that stuff. “Nice of you to say,” he said distantly, but he didn’t sound like he really believed her.

* * *

Honestly, Xander just wanted them all to leave him the fuck _alone. _He didn’t know how to sort through that feeling and figure out why he felt it, he just—he wanted Willow to stop looking at him with teary kicked-puppy eyes, and Buffy to stop twisting her hands like she wanted to punch something, and Jenny to stop fussing over him like he was some kind of tiny baby bird, and Ripper—

He wanted to punch Ripper’s teeth in. But everybody seemed to be really thankful to Ripper, for, you know, ruining Xander’s whole life, so Xander had to sit there and pretend he was completely fine with Ripper fucking whaling on his dad. He had to sit there while everyone treated Ripper like the big fat hero—and it _wasn’t _Ripper’s punch to throw. It wasn’t his battle to fight. But of course Ripper went and did it anyway, because that was what Ripper did.

“Xander, do you want—” Jenny began, already standing up, glancing towards the direction of the kitchen.

Lying on the couch, Xander rolled onto his side, facing inward towards the cushions. He heard the soft, concerned murmur of voices and wanted to tell them all to go fuck off.

There were footsteps—retreating ones—and the voices died away, migrating towards the kitchen instead. Giving Xander his space, he realized, and somehow the fact that they were being so goddamn _careful _with him made Xander even _more _angry. He hated every part of this night. Every single goddamn—

“Xan?”

Xander raised his head to scowl at Ripper. “Leave me _alone,”_he said, sharp and emphatic.

“This _is _my house,” said Ripper, looking frustratingly patient and understanding about the whole situation. Xander wanted dumb-Ripper back, the one who would pull stupid shit on patrol and sing bad original songs like he was a rock god, not—not some goddamn therapist. “And I think we need to talk at least a bit about—”

“You should have just let him hit me,” said Xander.

Ripper blinked. Therapist-face melted away, replaced with this sort of vaguely horrified expression. “Why the _bloody fuck _would I do that?” he said, all but indignant at the very concept. “Just _let him hit you?”_

“Look, man, this has been going on for a lot longer than you know,” said Xander flatly. “And it’s _great _that you’re getting all up in arms about my normal, but he’s my _dad. _You had _no _right to step in like that.”

“At this point, Xander, you should know me well enough to know I don’t just let my friends get hit,” said Ripper. It seemed to be taking quite a lot for him to keep his voice level. “I hit back. That’s how it works.”

“You hit my _dad,_” said Xander, and the word came out almost a sob. Humiliated, he scrubbed his sleeve roughly across his face, glaring up at Ripper. “My _dad, _man. He’s a shitty dad, but he’s still my _dad, _and I _don’t want him getting hurt.”_

“Funny, Xander,” said Jenny acidly from the kitchenette. “Your dad doesn’t seem to share the same sentiment about you.”

“Janna, shut _UP,” _shouted Ripper, whirling towards the kitchenette with blazing fury. Jenny flinched back, eyes wide, and Xander was pulled _sharply _out of his fury; no matter how bad things got, Ripper had _never _yelled at Jenny like that.

“Don’t _yell _at her!” Willow shrieked back. “She’s trying to _help!”_

“And a fucking good job she’s doing, isn’t she?” Ripper snapped, storming towards the kitchenette to face an infuriated Willow. “Telling Xander his dad _doesn’t care if he’s hurt?”_

“It’s not going to help this situation if we start sugarcoating things,” Jenny shot back, “and it’s _not _like you know what you’re doing any more than I do, so stop acting like—”

“Fuck you,” said Ripper. “Seriously, Janna, just get the fuck out of my house.”

Xander felt sick. He hadn’t meant to start this. “Guys,” he said weakly, but they didn’t seem to hear him.

“I can’t stand here listening to him talk about his asshole dad like he’s some—some kind of _person,_” Jenny shot back.

“You don’t know the first _fucking _thing about family, Janna, seeing as you don’t _have _one,” Ripper snapped.

Jenny went white.

“Oh no,” Willow whispered.

Ripper reeled. Even in the midst of an argument, it was clear he knew he’d crossed a line. “Fuck,” he said. “Shit. _Jenny, _I’m—”

Without a word, Jenny stepped around Buffy and Willow, moved neatly past Ripper, grabbed her military jacket from the barstool by the door, and left. As the door swung violently shut behind her, there was an audible, choked sob.

“Fuck fuck _fuck,_” Ripper whispered. “I have to—” He looked between Xander and the closed door, clearly torn.

“She’s gonna murder you if you come after her right now,” said Buffy. “I’ll do it.” She hesitated, then lightly touched Ripper’s shoulder. “We’re all doing the best we can, Ripper,” she said, and hurried out of the apartment after Jenny. Visibly shaken, Willow _looked _like she wanted to follow, but instead hurried out of the kitchen, shutting herself in the bathroom.

Xander was starting to get the sense that things weren’t as clear-cut as Ripper wanting to play the hero, and it was starting to make him feel _really _guilty. Ripper and Jenny had fought over _him. _Ripper and Jenny _never _fought like that—dirty and cutthroat and aiming to hurt. It was always arguments over radio stations and books they’d read and who got the last candy bar—

Ripper dropped down next to Xander on the couch again, looking sort of exhausted. “Xander, I’m sorry,” he said, in this small, sad voice that didn’t really sound like Ripper at all. “I meant to—I don’t know what I meant to do, really.” He looked anxiously up and over at Xander. “S’pose I should have asked what _you _wanted before I went and fucked up your dad,” he said.

Ten minutes ago, hearing that might have made Xander feel at least marginally better. Now, though, Xander was back to remembering how much he loved his friends, and how _much _his friends all wanted to _help. _“Do you think Jenny’s going to be okay?” he said quietly.

“No,” said Ripper. “She told me that in confidence.” He looked down at his hands. “She’s got every bloody reason to never speak to me again, after this,” he said.

“She was kind of being terrible,” Xander pointed out.

“She was just trying to help—”

“You know _none _of you are _actually _helping, right?” said Xander. It didn’t come out as angry as he’d expected. “Like, I’m still gonna have to go back there. No matter how much support you guys give me tonight, there’s still what’s going to happen tomorrow, and—” He blew out a frustrated breath. “Having you guys acting like you can do _anything _about that,” he said, “just makes the thought of going back even harder. I don’t want to go back to my dad.”

Ripper blinked. “Xander, you’re staying here,” he said. “Did I not make that clear?”

“_Tonight, _yeah,” said Xander, frustration sharpening his tone. “But what about—”

“Tomorrow, and the day after, and however fucking long it takes for you to feel safe again?” Ripper reached out, tightly gripping Xander’s shoulder. “Mate, I don’t just punch out the things that hurt my friends, all right?” he said. “I make sure my friends are okay after the danger’s gone away. And if _okay _for you means a couch to crash on, well, I’ve got that.”

Xander stared, a lump in his throat. Unsteadily, he said, “I’ve got three more years of high school, Ripper, I—”

“So three years,” said Ripper seriously.

It was taking everything in Xander not to just start crying. “I don’t want to tie you to a promise like that,” he said. “I’m—I mean, you saw how my dad treats me, right? I don’t do the dishes, I’m not some big football star, I’m not even really that good at fighting vampires—”

“Xander?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut the fuck up,” said Ripper, and pulled Xander into an actual hug. Xander gasped, then buried his face in Ripper’s shoulder, chanting _don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry _in his head like a mantra. “You’re my friend,” said Ripper. “Who else is gonna climb a tree and throw things at vampires with me?”

“Definitely not the girls,” said Xander, sniffling. “They’re too smart for that.”

“Damn straight,” Ripper agreed, pulling back to sort of ruffle Xander’s hair. “So. You’ll be on the couch ‘till I can clear some stuff out of the guest room, but I can get you some decent blankets from the hall closet. If any police or angry family come calling, I _will _punch them out, so don’t worry about that. All right?”

“All right,” Xander echoed, and gave Ripper a small, shy smile.

* * *

Buffy found Jenny sitting by the fancy fountain that Ripper’s apartment complex had, crying in jagged, unsteady bursts. She hesitated, then sat down next to Jenny on the edge of the fountain, reaching out to gently tug at her sleeve. “Hey,” she said.

Jenny just kept crying.

“You know he’s really dumb, right?” said Buffy carefully.

“It fucking _sucked,_” Jenny sobbed. “And he shouldn’t have _said it._”

Buffy honestly didn’t know a lot about Jenny’s family situation. She only knew that Jenny got a little weird whenever anyone suggested hanging out at her place, or meeting her parents, or anything involving family at all. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

Jenny sniffled, then shook her head. “It sucks,” she said. “All the family stuff sucks and it isn’t getting better. And Ripper _knows _I don’t talk about my family, and having him throw that in my face, I—” She began to cry again. “I don’t know why he’d _say _that!” she wailed. “I don’t know _what _I’m supposed to do! It’s like everything I do just ruins things for everybody, and I ca-a-an’t—” Her words dissolved into incoherence as she buried her face in her hands.

Buffy drew in a soft, pained breath, tugging Jenny’s hands towards hers. Jenny tried to jerk away, but Buffy held her hands with just enough Slayer strength to keep them in place. “I’m not gonna make excuses for Ripper being a Grade A Dumbass,” she said, “because that family thing was a low blow. We all know you don’t talk about family stuff. Xander says he likes to think of you as some tragic Victorian orphan making her way in the world—”

Jenny let out a watery laugh, looking up at Buffy. Her smile faded as Buffy held her gaze. “I just want to do right by Xander,” she said in a small voice. “I know I’m not doing as well as Ripper with this whole thing, but it—it makes me so fucking _angry. _That Xander loves his dad even after—” She stopped, swallowing. “After,” she said, gripping Buffy’s hands pretty tightly.

“Yeah,” said Buffy quietly. “I don’t think I get it either, honestly.”

“I wanna punch out Xander’s dad too,” said Jenny. “I think I’d be a little more stable right now if I could do that.”

“I’ll drive you down to the station,” said Buffy, completely meaning it. She hesitated, then said, “And you know that dumbass stuff Ripper said was _totally _off base, right?”

“No,” said Jenny unsteadily. “It’s really not. That’s why it hurt so much.” Swallowing hard, she rested her head on Buffy’s shoulder. “It’s more that…hearing it from him makes it more real, you know?”

“Yeah,” said Buffy again, reaching up to run a hand through Jenny’s hair. Usually Jenny was a force of nature, loud and electric and cool-older-girl-who-knew-everything, but right now, tucked into Buffy's side, she just seemed…small, and sad. Buffy really didn’t like seeing Jenny like this. “Are you feeling any better?”

Jenny shrugged.

“Still gonna punch out Ripper when you see him?”

Jenny shook her head. “No,” she said softly. “He’s a dumbass, but he didn’t mean to hurt me like he did. I mean, _shit, _the second after he said it—” She sniffled, then smiled slightly. “No. I’m not really as mad at him as I thought I was.”

“Mostly you’re just mad at _you,_” Buffy finished.

Jenny’s smile flickered. “Yeah.”

“Well, quit it.” Buffy squeezed Jenny’s shoulder. “Being mad at yourself isn’t gonna do Xander any good, is it?”

“Fair point,” said Jenny, raising her head with a renewed light in her eyes. “Okay. Let’s go check and see how the idiot boys are doing.”

Buffy let out a relieved breath and wrapped Jenny in another hug.

* * *

When Jenny finally came back in, her eyes were all blotchy and red, and she looked small and fragile in a way Xander hadn’t seen her look before. _Instantly, _Ripper was across the room, whispering fierce, horrified apologies as he pulled her into a tight hug—and Jenny fell apart, curling into him like he was her lifeline.

Buffy sat down next to Xander and Willow, the latter of whom had finally come out of the bathroom to snuggle into Xander’s side. The night had been pretty hard on everyone. “So that was easy,” Buffy said, giving him a small, encouraging grin. “Lots of problems solved tonight. Granted, a few of them got created by my dumb-butt Watcher, but they still got _solved._”

“Ripper’s good at that,” said Xander, watching Ripper rock Jenny in his arms.

“The creating or the solving?”

“I think both,” said Xander, grinning a little. “It’s gonna be pretty cool, living with him.”

“_What?” _said Buffy very loudly, sounding positively delighted by the concept. Willow burst into relieved giggles, and Jenny raised her head with a laugh of her own, and Ripper turned to give Xander this big, proud smile, and—okay, Xander thought. Maybe his friends had helped with this a _little._


End file.
